Oracle May Turn
Software-Sales Corner

Earnings Report Could Signal
Whether Economic Recovery Is Real

By

David Bank Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Sept. 12, 2003 12:03 a.m. ET

Oracle Corp. Friday is likely to bring up a topic that has been missing from its quarterly earnings releases for a long time -- real growth in software sales. But it might be a bit early to pop the champagne corks.

The Redwood Shores, Calif., company, once one of Silicon Valley's fastest-growing big companies, later became one of the biggest victims of slowing corporate spending on technology. As the company releases results for its...